In recent years magnetic tape cassettes have become an extremely popular means for storing and playing recorded material of both the entertainment and educational type. However, this has increased the existing problem of efficiently and economically loading each cassette with recorded material and supplying the same to the consumer at a reasonable price. Conventional magnetic tape cassettes comprise a case having two rotatable spools disposed therein and one or more open sections disposed along one edge of the case through which the tape stored on the spools may be engaged by the transducer head of a playback or recording device. Naturally, cassettes of this type can be loaded with tape prior to the assembly of the case simply by installing in the first instance spools having the desired amount of tape coiled thereon. However, this loading technique has proven to be quite uneconomical due to the complex equipment required to carefully wind the spools and close the cases without damaging the tape. Accordingly, cassette manufacturers have provided fully assembled cassettes with a leader tape having its ends connected to the two spools within the cassette. Cassettes of this type are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,423,038 and 3,167,267.
Starting with this basic cassette, the loading procedure is quite apparent. First the leader is withdrawn and cut into two discreet sections, one attached to each spool of the cassette. The leading end of magnetic tape to be loaded is then spliced to one of the leader sections, and the spool for that section is rotated until a predetermined amount of tape has been wound thereon. The tape is then cut and the trailing end thereof spliced to the other leader section to complete the loading operation. To implement the foregoing loading procedure various types of machines for cutting, splicing and winding the tape into cassettes have been developed. Many of these machines are simply holding, cutting and winding jigs that require complete manual implementation. Others are semi-automatic and as such are obviously more desirable.
Typical of the semi-automatic machine is the device shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,637,153 to King. King discloses a machine which comprises means for rotatably supporting a reel of supply tape, means for holding a blank cassette and rotating the spools thereof, and cutting and splicing means for cutting the leader tape into two sections, splicing the end of one section to the leading end of the supply tape, cutting the supply tape after a predetermined amount thereof has been rotated into the cassette and splicing the end of the other leader section to the trailing end of the supply tape.
Unfortunately, while many of the operations of the King cassette winding apparatus are automatic, the use of this device is still quite time consuming and costly. Each cassette must be manually loaded into the holding means by the operator, and the leader tape must be manually withdrawn from the cassette and placed upon the cutting and splicing means before the automatic operations of the machine can be commenced. Similarly, after the cassette is fully loaded with the supply tape it must also be manually removed from the holding means by the operator. Thus, although King does indeed automate the cutting, splicing and winding operations, the King device can at most be classified as only being semi-automatic, since its automatic capabilities are limited to the handling of a single cassette at a time, and it must depend upon an operator to supply and remove such single cassettes to and from the holding means.